Now, I will be the first to admit that I harbor some ambivalence toward George R. R. Martin’s best-known fantasy series.
I’ve never actually read the books. (I won a set of the first four and donated them to a reading charity; I’ve made the decision to wait on reading the entire series until the last book comes out.) My reading time is precious. I’m picky about how I spend it. I caught most of the first season of the ‘Game of Thrones’ mini-series – and stopped watching after I read ahead on Wikipedia.
However, I was lucky enough to publish a fantasy short story in an anthology at least nominally inspired by ‘Game of Thrones’. G.R.R.M. has written some of the loveliest comments on writing that I’ve ever seen. He’s published some science fiction that I really enjoyed. He’s put in his time in the trenches, and it shows. And that miniseries has single-handedly opened up epic fantasy for whole groups of new fans.
Since I am a book artist, I had to post a link to a remarkable new pop-up book that straddles the divide between book arts and commercial fan service. Pop-up books are testaments to great engineering with limited materials: each page turn drives lifting and unfolding paper cut-outs, often in surprising ways.
Say hello to the pop-up interactive guide to Westeros, the world G.R.R.M. created as background and setting to his ‘Game of Thrones’ novels. It will be available for purchase in late March, 2014.
And it is gorgeous.
